The newsletter for the island of Shapinsay produced by the Shapinsay Development Trust.

Registered Charity Number SC034818; Registered Company Number SC255127.

LOCAL

Published by the Shapinsay Development Trust. Disclaimer: The content and opinions expressed in Shapinsay Sound are those of individual authors and their represented groups. These views are not necessarily shared by the publisher

Contact Information : Email: SDTOffice@shapinsay.org.uk Telephone: 01856 711733.

The Shapinsay Sound

School is looking very festive as I write this. The tree is decorated and there isn't any bit of ceiling not covered in the corridors. All the children have been helping to make decorations and Ian said that he really enjoyed the singing at the tree lighting. The P7 children did a great job lighting the tree. The Christmas postbox

has been up and the children have all been taking turns on elf duty to deliver the cards. Anwen said that she likes coming into the classroom and finding cards in her tray. The Nursery children have been making cards and decorations. They have enjoyed singing the Christmas carols too. The P1 - 3 class have finished their space topic, made space models at home and trying space food. Some of the children made space buggies from Knex. The P2 and P3 children wrote the Christmas story and some of the detail was amazing. The P4 - 7 class have been making stories interesting to read by using a wider range of sentence openers. In art they made windows looking into a house with a Christmas tree. They have also been finding out about Christmas traditions in Spain. The Orcadian DVDs have been flying off the shelf, so please do get in touch with us after the holidays if you would like to buy one. Happy new year from everyone at the school!

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

Shapinsay Development

Trust

1

Putting Shapinsay on the Map in 2018

2

Putting Shapinsay on the Map in 2018

3

Putting Shapinsay on the Map in 2018

Your Island your

Choice

4

Shapinsay Wildlife

Matters

5

Shapinsay Wildlife Matters

6

Shapinsay Community

Council

7

Shapinsay School 8

The Shapinsay Sound S H A P I N S A Y

D E V E L O P M E N T

T R U S T

January 2019

Shapinsay Development Trust

WISHING EVERYONE ALL THE BEST FOR 2019

P A G E 2

T H E S H A P I N S A Y S O U N D

Putting Shapinsay on the Map in 2018 by Leanne Bews

It has become a bit of a standing joke in the school that if Shapinsay hasn’t been in the Orcadian or on Radio Orkney during the week then we have work to do! There has been such a lot going on in Shapinsay I can’t possibly include everything, so have focussed on the successes within the school and 2 young people who have made an impact on a national level. So what has the school been up to? Back in 2017 our Active Schools coordinator Kirsty Spence asked if we would like to apply for a School Sport Award through Sport Scotland. We set up a sports committee and had soon done enough to achieve the silver award. So of course the next logical step was to set our sights on gold for 2018.

We already had a very well run and well attended football club and badminton had also introduced a junior club, but the children felt they wanted more clubs. I secured some training for myself and the badminton coaches, attended training aimed at early years and started a mini-movers club. I did this to improve the experiences for the bairns and to help work towards our Gold award. So at the start of the year I was very surprised and quite chuffed to find myself nominated for the Orkney Sports awards “School sports volunteer of the year” for increasing opportunities for the children. I didn’t win but it was great for the school to have the work I was doing, alongside the committee and staff, recognised. We continued to work on our goals throughout 2018. I

attended netball fun 5s training and started a lunchtime netball club, which then progressed to an evening netball club. Sue did “play on pedals” training in order to do work on balance bikes and pedal bikes with early years pupils. We continued to ensure that each pupil in the school receives a minimum of 2 hours of physical education and additional opportunities for physical activity. The sports committee ensured that the sports board was kept up to date and the young leaders ran events for Sport Relief. Most importantly the clubs continue to run thanks to our committed coaches and volunteers and the pupils continued to attend them. We applied for our gold award in June and were informed that Sport Scotland would be visiting the school in September. We were absolutely delighted when they arrived with our Gold Sports Award flag in hand and presented it to the children.

P A G E 7

T H E S H A P I N S A Y S O U N D

Shapinsay Community Council

PART-TIME CLERK REQUIRED

for

SHAPINSAY COMMUNITY COUNCIL Looking for a part-time post based from your own home?

This is an ideal opportunity to be involved in the community and undertake part-time

administrative work from home.

The post involves providing services for Shapinsay Community Council, who hold between 4 and 8 meetings per annum. You should have good communication and organisational skills and be computer literate, preferably with experience of Microsoft Word and Excel. Computer and equipment can be provided. Annual earnings will be in region of £1,000. For an application pack and/or further information please contact:- Mrs Maureen Spence Democratic Services Manager

Orkney Islands Council Kirkwall Orkney KW15 1NY Tel: 01856 873535 extension 2200 E-mail: maureen.spence@orkney.gov.uk

Closing Date: Friday, 25 January 2019

Interviews are expected to be held week beginning

18 February 2019

Scottish Artic Club This club is made up of people interested in anything to do with the Arctic. Every year it gives small grants to Scottish residents under 30 who are planning to visit northern regions of Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, the U.S., or Russia. This can be as a individual or as part of a group. If you know anyone who might be able to bene-fit from this, the website for further information is:- www.scottisharcticclub.org.uk<http://www.scottisharcticclub.org.uk or email me louisehollinrake@gmail.com<mailto:louisehollinrake@gmail.com>. The deadline for applications for 2015 is January 31st, but now is a good time to be thinking of applying if planning for 2016 so it can be included in your funding

P A G E 6

T H E S H A P I N S A Y S O U N D

Shapinsay wildlife Matters Part 2

Nathusius’ pipistrelle bat roosting in a crevice There are two other species of pipistrelle bat in the UK, the soprano which is higher pitched at 55 Hz and the common which peaks at about 45 Hz. Each species looks very similar and it is impossible to identify them in flight. Nathusius’ pipistrelle was first recorded in Great Britain in Shetland in 1940. It was initially regarded as a vagrant, but since 1997 it has been known to breed in the UK. Nathusius’ pipistrelle is tiny, weighing only 5 grams but has a wing span up to 250mm. It can roost in tiny crevices and cracks in walls, so could be roosting and possibly hibernating at Braefoot in one of the farm buildings.

A typical bat skeleton is similar to ours but it has massive hands which are of course its wings!

Very little is known about any bats on Shapinsay. A few folk have reported seeing them this year though, so perhaps there are more out there than we think. There was a report of a large flock in a cave on the east side of Shapinsay a few years ago by some intrepid snorkelers. I’m hoping Father Xmas will bring me my very own bat detector for Xmas, fingers crossed. So if you see or hear of any bats on Shapinsay, please let me know and I’ll come along and try to identify them.

P A G E 3

T H E S H A P I N S A Y S O U N D

Putting Shapinsay on the Map in 2018 Part 2

We thought that was the culmination of our efforts for the time being and that we would quietly continue to promote Sport in the school, with the aim of re-applying to validate our Gold in 3 years’ time. We were therefore very surprised to receive an Email in November to say that we had been nominated for the Sunday Mail Scottish Sports Awards “School sport award”, having been nominated by Sport Scotland.

Myself, Emma and our Active School’s coordinator Kirsty travelled down to the awards Ceremony in Glasgow on the 6th of December. Although we did not win it was a great experience and we felt very proud to be representing our peedie school at such a big event. We told everyone we spoke to how we had travelled down from a small island in Orkney called Shapinsay! Although Sport has been the most visible focus in 2018 Anita Angier has been quietly working behind the scenes promoting Science and Languages across Orkney and we hope you will hear more about that in 2019!

We are not the only ones putting Shapinsay on the map! What has Rachel Evans been up to? Rachel has been travelling South throughout 2018 with her horses and has been receiving regular training from a pupil of gold medal Olympian Carl Hester. She qualified for the Scottish regionals, which is a pathway to competing nationally.

Rachel also qualified both her horses for the Under 25 National dressage championships and was chosen to represent Team Scotland. Rachel and her parents have asked that I mention that this has been made possible as Rachel received a “Talented Young Sportsperson” grant from Sport Scotland and as a result of the help and support which Rachel has received locally from the Community Council and the Development Trust.

These are amazing achievements which Rachel should be very proud of and go to show that living on a small island needn’t be a barrier to achieving your ambitions, well done Rachel.

However, that isn’t all that Rachel has been up to in 2018. Rachel travelled to Glasgow in December as a member of a delegation of 7 young people from Orkney to take part in discussions about what they would like

to see in the “Islands Deal” proposals.

The “Islands Deal” proposals are about securing agreements with the Scottish and UK Governments regarding future investments in the isles.

She listened to a talk by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and met the Head of the Island Deal Committee, she was able to explain to him how important transport links are to the isles and the need to have suitable ferries.

P A G E 4

T H E S H A P I N S A Y S O U N D

Putting Shapinsay on the Map in 2018 Part 3

What has Sean Dunnett been up to? Sean has continued to improve in his climbing skills throughout 2018, as part of Orkney Climbing Club, doing both indoor and outdoor climbs. Sean set himself the challenge of climbing the Picky Climbing wall 57 times (the height of St John’s Head and The Old Man of Hoy) to raise money for “Climbers against Cancer”. Sean absolutely smashed his aim of 57 climbs, climbing the wall 115 times and raising £569.

Sean has also been travelling South throughout 2018 attending climbing competitions as a member of Orkney Climbing Club. In early November Sean qualified to compete in the “Climb Scotland fun climbing competition” in Aberdeen. Sean has been increasing in confidence in terms of competing and this paid off, as Sean went through to the finals and went on to win his age group. A fantastic achievement and again goes to show that living on a small island needn’t be a barrier to achieving your ambitions. Well done Sean and well done to Gavin who also qualified and was competing at the event. We will just have to wait and see what 2019 has in store in terms of putting Shapinsay on the map.

Your Island Your Choice 2

Application forms for Your Island, Your Choice 2 should now be available in the shop. We are inviting applications from anyone who meets the criteria listed in the application form. Applications must fit in with one of the five priorities and should be between £200 and £3000. Voluntary Action Orkney are happy to give advice and help to all applicants to ensure the criteria are met. Application forms should be returned to the Boathouse or to myself by 22nd January. This will give us time to publicise the various projects in the February newsletter. On February 10th there will be an open event where each applicant gives a short presentation and the counting of the votes will take place. Everyone on the island (from P4 upwards) is eligible to vote. Voting will be available in the boathouse, at the event or if you are unable to attend either of these, we can take the vote to you. Voting must be done in person. No proxy voting is allowed. The steering group is looking forward to reading your applications!

P A G E 5

T H E S H A P I N S A Y S O U N D

Shapinsay Wildlife Matters by Paul Hollinrake

Rare Nathusius’ Pipistrelle Bats discovered on Shapinsay

Throughout November and in to December this year there has been a small bat flying around the farm buildings at Braefoot. Mostly seen just as it is getting dark but also in the early morning. It seems to fly near the lights, perhaps attracted to the insects attracted by them. All 18 species of bats in the UK are Insectivorous, so they only eat insects and none suck blood!! A tiny pipistrelle bat can eat over 3000 midges per night. What’s not to like!! Bats should be everyone’s friend.

Nathusius’ pipistrelle bat in the hand. So cute!

Mervyn invited me over to see his bat, but unfortunately it disappeared when I arrived. I was able to borrow a bat detector from the Orkney Field Club, and waited for the call from Mervyn when he next saw the bat flying. It was calm but cold. We switched on the detector and almost immediately picked up its sound. It made a series of irregular loud wet slaps and clicks. The bat detector converts the ultra-sonic high pitched echolocation sounds that humans cannot hear, and converts them in to lower pitched sounds that are audible to us. It was a small but very swift flying bat, which flew around the buildings about head height. The cunning thing about a bat detector is it can tell at what frequency the sound is being made. So by turning a dial we found that the Braefoot bat was peaking at around 39 Hz. This helps to identify the bat as a Nathusius’ pipistrelle bat. Pipistrelle is derived from Latin meaning 'little squeaker.